Source : Ottawa Sun

The Canadian Television Fund, responsible for financing Canadian programs like Da Vinci's Inquest, is "dead," according to a senior cable executive.

The executive, who met Tuesday with Heritage Minister Bev Oda on the future of the CTF, told a trade publication Wednesday the jig was up for the fund.

"Videotron and ourselves told (Oda) it can't be fixed," Shaw Communications executive vice-president Ken Stein told Cartt.ca. "It's dead. Done. Gone."

Shaw, along with Quebecor subsidiary Videotron, suspended their payments to the fund, prompting the meeting.

Quebecor owns Sun Media.

Stein said Videotron, Shaw and Rogers all agreed at the meeting that the "fund had failed."

Shaw and Videotron have said the fund needs an overhaul. They believe too much of the money goes to the CBC, which already receives $1 billion in government cash.

The CTF finances Canadian programs that can be purchased by the networks. Cable companies are required to contribute to the fund every year.

© Ottawa Sun